Disable PDF form editing in React Native

Nutrient React Native SDK enables you to interact with forms in a document.

To disable form editing and interaction for your document, set the enableFormEditing configuration option to false, like so:

<NutrientView
  document={DOCUMENT}
  configuration={{
    enableFormEditing: false,
  }}
  ref={this.pdfRef}
  fragmentTag="PDF1"
  style={{ flex: 1 }}
/>

Locking a single form field

enableFormEditing applies to the whole document. To lock one field while leaving the rest of the form fillable, use setFormFieldReadOnly with the field’s fully qualified name:

const forms = this.pdfRef.current?.getDocument().forms;

// Lock a single field.
await forms.setFormFieldReadOnly('Name_Last', true);

// Unlock it again.
await forms.setFormFieldReadOnly('Name_Last', false);

The change applies at runtime and takes effect immediately — there’s no need to reload the document. Passing a name that doesn’t exist in the document rejects, so you can surface a clear error rather than silently doing nothing.

This is useful for workflows that progressively lock a form: for example, freezing the fields a user has already confirmed while the remaining ones stay editable.

Reading the read-only state back

Read the state back through getFormElements:

const elements = await this.pdfRef.current
  ?.getDocument()
  .forms.getFormElements();

const field = elements.find(
  (element) => element.formField?.fullyQualifiedName === 'Name_Last',
);

const isReadOnly = field?.formField?.isReadOnly;

The element-level FormElement.readOnly property reports the same state, so either property works:

const isReadOnly = field?.readOnly;

Signature fields behave differently per platform

setFormFieldReadOnly is portable for value fields such as text fields and checkboxes. It is not portable for signature widgets:

• On iOS, a locked signature field swallows the tap before the SDK asks to present anything, so onShouldShowSignaturePad never fires.
• On Android, the callback still fires, and allowing the request still opens the signature pad.

If your goal is to stop a user signing, don’t build it on read-only state — deny the request in onShouldShowSignaturePad instead, which behaves the same on both platforms. See gating the signature UI for the pattern.